Establish a Training Program for Your CAD Users, Part 2

You've gotten the go-ahead from management; now it's time to gather supplies and locate the right training venue.

In the previous issue of the CAD Manager’s Newsletter, I advised CAD managers to start in-house training programs, and I provided some action items to that end. If you haven’t had a chance to review that column, you may want to do so before moving on with this installment.

In this issue, I’ll focus on materials preparation and training delivery. I'm assuming that you have already won upper management's approval for a training program, and that you’ve determined your training topics. Here goes.

Gather Your Training Necessities

Before you conduct any training, ensure that you have all the resources you’ll need to do so efficiently — including the following items. As we go through the list, I’ll explain the importance of each item and recommend a few of my favorites.

A capable projector. You'll need to generate output that can be seen clearly in the lighting conditions you’ll encounter in the training room. Old 1024x768 models are no longer good enough to project modern CAD interfaces with wide-aspect ribbon interfaces, and HD wide-screen projectors are becoming the norm.

A properly prepared computer. That means a machine that's set up for the screen resolution you’ll use with the training projector and recording software, with screen colors and contrast settings that make the screen easy to see. In addition, it's a good idea to:

The goal is to make everything clear and highly visible, while getting rid of any potential distractions — prerequisites that are especially important when you're recording your training sessions. The ability to record training. Why conduct the same training twice, when you can simply record it the first time? My weapon of choice for recording is Camtasia, which gives me a wide range of formats, editing options, and advanced features, including intelligent zooming and speech-to-text conversion.

(For a detailed description on how Camtasia can assist you in the composition and capture of training presentations, see two of my previous columns: Creating Training Videos Part 1 and Creating Training Videos Part 2. The screen captures in these two articles are based on an earlier version of Camtasia, but the concepts are very similar.) A high-quality microphone. If you’re going to record your training, make sure you are prepared to capture clear, intelligible audio. If you’ve ever struggled with a video where the speaker sounded like they were under a blanket or inside a coffee can, you know how distracting it can be when an otherwise good training session is hampered by poor sound quality.

I use either a Blue Yeti microphone (as shown in the figure below) or a Logitech H530 USB headset. I find it very useful to have both options, because the various training environments I work in dictate different approaches. I use a headset when I’m sitting down at my computer, and a desktop microphone to capture training sessions in open rooms. The heavy-duty Blue Yeti podcasting microphone, shown next to a 14-inch laptop for scale.

Documentation. You'll need to gather relevant example files and create course guides. As I practice my training sessions I record them with Camtasia first, then use the recordings to help me create my training documentation.

When preparing your training exercises, it helps to:

Use standard files from your production environment.

Demonstrate software using standard files.

Always stress use of company standards.

Keep each training class short and to the point.

If you follow these steps, you’ll create training that demonstrates exactly how users should operate in your standard CAD environment — you'll be enhancing and enforcing your standards while you train. A serviceable training room. You need a space where users can hear what you’re saying, see your demonstrations, take notes as needed, and not be interrupted. To meet these goals, look for a conference room with:

A door that closes.

Three feet (one meter) of linear table space per user.

A phone that can be muted (or none at all).

What won't work are cramped rooms without writing surfaces, lunchrooms, or open cube farms where noise and interruptions are commonplace. The goal is to eliminate distractions so the users can be completely focused on your training. Network access. Your training will incorporate your company's network directories, plotting devices, and any other network resource your users would normally use with their CAD systems, right? Therefore, your training room should have actual network access, not just visitor-style Wi-Fi Internet access. The goal of your training is to show users exactly how to operate in your standard CAD environment, and that means your standard network environment as well.

A stable training schedule. It might be once a month, once every other month, or the second Wednesday of each month — the specifics don't matter, as long as you can get into a consistent pattern that your users grow accustomed to. What doesn’t work is training for two months, then skipping the next six months — you will lose all your training momentum that way.

Smooth delivery. You’ll need to perform some rehearsal runs to get comfortable with your new tools. After all, practice really does make perfect!

Putting It All in Motion

Now that you know what you need to pull together for your training sessions, you can start assembling your lessons, planning your schedule, and getting your machine configured for maximum visibility and recording efficiency. And if it takes a while to get the first training classes rolling, so be it — you can use that time to practice and become a better trainer. Summing Up

My hope is that you now feel empowered to plan and deliver your training program. Will it take work? Yes, but it's the only way to change user behavior, increase standards adoption, and fix broken processes! So go get your training program rolling, and be sure to let me know how it goes.

About the Author: Robert Green

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Comments

Re: Establish a Training Program for Your CAD Users, P...

by: RyanM on: January 10, 2013 - 1:32pm

Part 1:
I respect your list but you are missing some very, very critical key elements, especially if you plan to actually measure and tell your boss that you met your ROI numbers.
First, an individual training need is required. I have gone into several organizations to help with a "training program" to find out that the users didn't need training at all. It was an issue of all the information required to do the job was scattered all over the company website, printed manuals, etc. In several cases it was simply a matter of organizing the required information into an easy to find and use repository. No training needed!
Also, when it comes to training you really need to realize that training is usually the last thing that HR and managers want to do with their staff. You need to sit down with manager and make sure that all the other options have been covered first! This also means spending some time with the individuals to see what they think. Training for trainings sake is NOT a good reason to spend time and money. If there is no motivation to improve you and the manager need to know that up-front.
Secondly, you really need to do a job analysis break-down what the specific job title needs to do (notice I didn't say "know"). Then you build a matrix so that you can approach HR and the managers to verify your analysis. Once you have an agreed upon matrix you can start to assign the knowledge components to the tasks. Here you can build a program that is based on a job matrix and it's clear what major components of software, standards, etc that is required for each level of the job titles. The point of this is to limit the amount of training that happens and ensures that those who need the training get the correct training. Everybody wins here.

Re: Establish a Training Program for Your CAD Users, P...

by: RyanM on: January 10, 2013 - 1:33pm

Part 2:
Another major component to any training program is an understanding of adult learning theory, good training materials and a delivery strategy. Over the last 10 years we have seen an explosion of e-Learning and e-Learning authoring tools. Yes, e-Learning is a major component in today’s world but it is NO substitute for instructor-led training. You also have to remember one key: e-Learning is not the same as e-Information! Providing information via the web is NOT learning! Learning takes practice, failure and time. Creating a Camtasia screen capture with some voice over doesn’t provide much value to learning. It does provide information though. These types of elements are considered a learning aid/crutch. Why learn/retain knowledge when all I have to do is remember where the video is located?
Am I saying no video? No, I’m not saying that. Videos have a purpose but it only comes into play when you have a learning and delivery strategy. The Blended-Learning strategy, the combination of e-Learning and instructor-led training, is the most viable strategy for learning these days. You can provide “information” in the form of your videos and let your staff practice and fail in the safe environment of the instructor-led sessions.
When it comes to recording, designing and authoring your training content I would highly recommend that you NOT assign your best CAD person to build training materials. PERIOD.
Using the Subject Matter Expert (SME) as a training content author is one of the biggest mistakes I have seen in most organizations. See SME's have the knowledge stored as a second nature and tend to miss steps in between or assume that everyone knows that step. I’ve even seen cases where the SME was skipping critical procedural steps and relying on downstream employees to catch their mistakes and correct them. IN that case the company was propagating errors and crippling another area of the company.
Also, SME's usually don't know “squat” about instructional design (ID) or how adults learn. There is a HUGE difference in providing information and providing training! Information overload is the most common effect and it significantly reduces the capabilities of “learning” to happen in an organizations. ID provides you with the background to design and build actual training components- not information components- I know I’m beating the training/learning and information to death here, but it’s critical. Knowing how to organize information in meaningful chunks, display them properly for easy discovery and usage makes a world of difference in learning something.
I know that my response has been long but I shake my head when people tell others to put together a spreadsheet and show the ROI on training. It’s not that simple or easy…especially if you have to measure and provide proof that your company is actually getting the ROI! That’s a whole different story in itself. But if you do what I said above you are in a decent spot to provide the proof in your ROI.

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